The Oregon Book Report - Book News from Oregon

Teen fights bully with pigtails…wins!

November 14, 2012

By Michal Ann McArthur, Bend writer

Teen Maisie Kate Miller of Marblehead High School near Boston found a way to combat bullying by starting a movement she dubbed “Pigtails4Peace.” When a school bully, who had been tormenting Maisie all year, made a mean comment about Maisie’s pigtails, Maisie was deeply hurt and told her story on Facebook. She asked people to protest bullying by wearing pigtails the next day.

A few hours later when she checked her Facebook page, she was shocked to find more than 500 responses. She reminded people that this was a protest against bullying and asked that the bully herself not be bullied. Bullying her, Maisie wrote, “would be against the movement.”

The next day, hundreds of people, including boys, a dog, and at least one teacher, came to school in pigtails.

The school counselor, who leads the anti-bullying group at Marblehead, told the Washington Post, “Maisie is someone who sticks up for people, and that’s why this response.”

Not many days later, the bully sent apologies via a friend to Maisie. Others reported that this bully had also been bothering them but that she had stopped.

Maisie told TODAY Moms, “It’s come from such a negative place to such a positive place. I feel so empowered and overwhelmed with all of the love and compassion I’ve seen. I’m just shaking from all of this. I did not expect this.”